Ryan Martin’s Indiana Ag Forecast for December 11, 2018

Another dry day today, but this time we should not have to battle fog and low clouds like we did yesterday. That kept a lid on temperatures, while warm air started to spill in over the top of us. Temps should start to climb a bit over the next couple of days. We do have a few tweaks to the forecast, though, around our next precipitation events.

Clouds are coming in faster for tomorrow, and we likely see a good deal of cloud cover over the northern half to northern quarter of the state tomorrow. This will mean there is potential for some minor spit/sprinkle/flurry action, but we really don’t think that there is any good chance. However, we also are seeing significantly lower chance of moisture overnight tomorrow night into Thursday too. So, we are pulling back on chances, still allowing for a few hundredths to at most a tenth of liquid equivalent precipitation over the state with coverage limited to 40%. This first chance of moisture really is going to be hit and miss, and nearly a non-event.

We are still dry for Thursday, but likely have to deal with clouds. South winds continue to move over the region, keeping temps near normal. Moisture is back for Friday and likely lingers into Saturday in parts of the state. This batch comes in from the west and NW, but then settles south and holds over the southern half to third of the state through Saturday. Precipitation Friday can be from .25”-.5”, and then on Saturday we can add another .25”-.75” from I-70 southward. We should be precipitation free in northern Indiana on Saturday. The map shows precipitation potential for Friday through the weekend (Saturday).

Sunshine returns Sunday as high pressure sits right on top of the state. The dry pattern extends all the way through next Wednesday, with another high-pressure center working through in that period. Temps cool off just a bit initially on Sunday and Monday but return to near normal levels for the rest of the period.

Clouds develop next Thursday as we kick off the extended period. Scattered showers likely develop for the 20th and may linger into early the 21st. Rain totals still look to end up in the .1”-.6” range, even with the slight delay in that system’s arrival. We also continue to watch some snow potential for the 22nd and 23rd with potential up to a few inches over 70% of the state. Behind that, we go drier but remain cold for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.